Moving on from my 600D... any suggestions?

I've been shooting on a Canon 600D for the last year and a bit and I'm looking for an upgrade. I'm leaning towards a Pentax as I've seen some amazing pictures (and got some) from a friends Pentax camera - not sure exactly what the model was. It would appear I'm about to become a victim of upgraditis

If I was to sell the Canon camera... would I have to declare that as income? I'm self employed so declare my own taxes through HMRC, and the 600D was a gift. I use a tax calculator to work stuff like this out and with my tax band and the price I'm going for on the sale I'd pay something like £150 tax on it, which I'd rather not do!

Anyway, after the sale and some extra saving I'll have about £800 to revamp my camera gear - any suggestions? (I shoot a lot of mountain biking/sports, wildlife and landscapes - doesn't have to do everything perfectly but I'd like to get close )

No, if you sell an item that you personally own, you don't need to declare it as income. If the camera was gifted to your company, you'd have to show that the asset was disposed of and the funds would become part of the company's cash reserves. But if it was gifted to you personally (which I assume is the case), it's yours to do with as you wish.

Given your budget, I would suggest that you consider buying a lightly used K-5IIS or K-3.Then buy the da 18-135 and one of the da 55-300 lens variants on the used market. This should be right around your budget and gives you everything you need to get started.

No, if you sell an item that you personally own, you don't need to declare it as income. If the camera was gifted to your company, you'd have to show that the asset was disposed of and the funds would become part of the company's cash reserves. But if it was gifted to you personally (which I assume is the case), it's yours to do with as you wish.

Awesome! It was gifted to me personally, yes. Thanks!

Originally posted by CarlJF

A KP and a 18-135 would fit the bill I think.

Originally posted by steve_k

Given your budget, I would suggest that you consider buying a lightly used K-5IIS or K-3.Then buy the da 18-135 and one of da 55-300 lenses on the used market. This should be right around your budget and gives you everything you need to get started.

I'm definitely looking more into buying used than new to get something a little better for a little less. Many thanks for the suggestions, I'll definitely take a look into them!

I've been shooting on a Canon 600D for the last year and a bit and I'm looking for an upgrade. I'm leaning towards a Pentax as I've seen some amazing pictures (and got some) from a friends Pentax camera - not sure exactly what the model was. It would appear I'm about to become a victim of upgraditis

If I was to sell the Canon camera... would I have to declare that as income? I'm self employed so declare my own taxes through HMRC, and the 600D was a gift. I use a tax calculator to work stuff like this out and with my tax band and the price I'm going for on the sale I'd pay something like £150 tax on it, which I'd rather not do!

Anyway, after the sale and some extra saving I'll have about £800 to revamp my camera gear - any suggestions? (I shoot a lot of mountain biking/sports, wildlife and landscapes - doesn't have to do everything perfectly but I'd like to get close )

Cheers!

Originally posted by Kozlok

I’d ask why you are switching.

The usual advice is for a limited amount of money, your biggest bump in IQ will be better lenses for the camera you have.

Switching to Pentax, your video capabilities will get worse, but you’ll add WR and a better interface. A used K5 won’t get you a higher resolution sensor.

If you just want better looking photos, buy a better lens.

I've never done videos on my Canon - I'd rather use my phone for that, as it's a lot more like to be a spontaneous "wow look at that" of cousins playing together or something rather than something a little more planned like most my photos are.

Better WR would be great just for peace of mind, quite often getting mud and stuff flicked at my camera from bikes when it's been wet

There are no easy answers. It would help to know what sort of glass you already have and what sort of photography you like to do. In the meantime, here is some more free advice. Just remember it worth what you paid for it.

If you have a whole bunch of Canon lenses, keep them and upgrade the 600D. If you only have the Canon kit lens, you can sell it with the body.

A new KP with 18-135 bundle would be a useful upgrade. Not so sure about a used K5 - they are getting quite old now. For your budget you can do better.

OTOH, getting some nice Canon glass will also take your picture taking up a notch. Something like a 50mm f/1.2, 85mm f/1.2 or 70-200mm f/2.8 perhaps.

You said you shoot quite a bit of sports so I'm not sure there's something in the Pentax lineup in your price range that would do that. So what is more important to you, a WR body/lens combination that would do just ok with sports, or a more sports oriented brand (Canon or Nikon) that would not be WR?

With Pentax, to do what you want to do I'd have to say the K-P (which seems to have the best autofocus of the APS-C bodies) and a couple of good lenses will be required - perhaps one WR (DA 18-135 or DA 16-85 - the latter being better for landscapes) with something like a Sigma or Tamron 70-200 for your sports pictures. But that would run well over your budget....

To stay close to your budget (but probably still a bit over) I would think the K-70 with the DA 16-85 would do what you'd like to do, but might struggle a bit with the sports action due to it being a slower lens (f/3.5-5.6) and you would have to crank up the ISO. The AF wouldn't be up to what the KP can do, either, so you would have to learn to pre-focus and take lots of shots to have a better chance of some good keepers.

The KP and K-3 offer some improvements over the K-70. The KP is a slight improvement with AFAIK no downsides. The K-3 is a trickier comparison vs the K-70; you'll get a more durable build and improved bursts, but the AF and low light is not as good as in the K-70. Get the K-3 only if you don't think the K-70 or KP can meet your needs for continuous bursts. Pentax K-3 vs. Pentax K-70 vs. Pentax KP - Pentax Camera Comparison - PentaxForums.com

Avoid the K-5. It's a great landscape camera but the AF lags for sports and wildlife. It's usable and some people get good results but it's not as good as the other choices.

If you consider the K-3, don't forget the K-3 II - you get built-in GPS instead of a flash, which gives you geotagging and astrophotography. That worked for me, until I traded up to a K-1... not much use if you want the flash, of course.

My go-to online shop, SRS, currently has a used K70 with a 3251 shutter count and 1 year warranty for £449. The 18-135 is out of stock there, though. I'm not affiliated with them, I'm sure other routes to goal are possible!

If you are looking at sports, I really recommend the PLM version of the 55-300 and a modern body. I have a K3II, and that combination performs very nicely, and the K3II has the best frame rate and buffer. It also supports dual SD cards and as already mentioned has built in GPS and astrotracer. There are some really good deals on them new, and I'm sure you can pick up a used one at a pretty reasonable price. And back to the lens, the PLM focus speed is really quite fast. The screw drive versions of this lens are pretty slow. There's no comparison between the two on focus speed. The optics are improved too. I have the HD DA 55-300 as well as the PLM, and I don't know if I'll ever use the screw drive version again.

You mention you liked the pictures you took with your friend's Pentax camera. Which one did they let you use? If you liked those images and already have experience with that camera and lens, I'd suggest trying to replicate your friend's setup.

The 600D/T3i was a winner for Canon. They sold tons of them. I had several sets of them in the classroom for students to use when I taught photography at the university. They are simple to use, but any Pentax camera currently available, as well as any used models will be better than your current camera. Pentax autofocus will be much slower, but way more accurate than the autofocus system in the 600D.

With that budget, you cannot expect to get an ideal setup for sports shooting, which is fast action sometimes in less than daylight brightness. This would require a faster f/2.8 pro-style zoom lens with good AF capabilities.

I too think a new K-70 is your best bet, along with a DA18-135mm instead of the more expensive and larger DA 16-85mm lens. The DA 18-135mm is in the top tier for Pentax AF in terms of speed, accuracy, and quiet performance. It also can keep to f/3.5-4.5 out to 70mm, which is about one stop off from a pro-style f/2.8 lens, but the K-70's higher ISO performance compared to models other than the KP and K-1, is way above, giving you at least a one stop advantage, making your DA 18-135mm lens practically equivalent to a pro-style f/2.8 lens from 18 to about 70mm- not a bad range!

This lens also provides great flexibility with its zoom range for many uses, very fine imaging, especially within the 18-70mm range, is very well-built, yet exceptionally compact, and is also capable of some very fine closeups. There are images posted in the SLR lens section thread- DA 18-135mm WR lens show us what it can do.

I don't know where you are located, but right now B&H has this lens bundled as a kit with the K-70 for under $800 USD, a great savings compared with buying the lens separately, and they are even throwing in a memory card, camera bag and UV filter free!